No Time To Rest
by Refracted Shadow
Summary: The crew of the Ebon Hawk discover that waiting for the Republic Fleet isn't that easy of a job.


_Author's notes: Characters are part of the Star Wars universe and Knights of the Old Republic. And I thank Revanspetduck for the beta._

"All we have to do is wait here for the Republic fleet and hope we're not spotted," said Carth.

"Do you have anything better than hope?" asked Naomi. "Like maybe a cloaking device stored away somewhere?"

"Yeah, I have one in my pocket," he replied, rolling his eyes. "A ship like this isn't going to have a cloaking device."

"I know, but we could use one right now."

"What are you…?" Before Carth could finish the _Ebon Hawk _shook as three Sith fighters flew past. "We've been spotted!"

Naomi sighed. "Yeah, I was trying to tell you that."

"It would have been helpful if you said 'Look, we've been spotted'. Not, 'Hey do we have a cloaking device.' Be a little more direct, woman."

"Just shut up and fly the ship."

"What do you think…?" Carth began, but trailed off and instead of giving a useless reply he growled in frustration.

The _Ebon Hawk_ suddenly sped from where it was hovering, making a series of spins to avoid the blaster bolts. It wasn't very successful as most of the blasts struck the vessel causing it to shudder violently. The only thing that was achieved by the _Ebon Hawk's_ evasive maneuvers was in attracting the attention of more Sith fighters. Pushed to its limits, the _Hawk_ was able to outmaneuver the enemy ships, but there was too many of them to escape from.

The bombardment was quickly draining the shields of the former smuggling ship; it wouldn't be long before they gave out completely. But the pilot still had a couple tricks up his sleeve. He wasn't going to give up so easily. Carth directed the _Hawk_ to fly between debris caught in the nearby planet's gravitational pull. The debris intercepted some of the blaster fire and the unobservant Sith pilots. This bought the _Ebon Hawk_ some time, but not nearly enough.

"Carth, can't you get this thing to fly faster?" Naomi exclaimed, her knuckles white from gripping the armrests so tightly.

"I'm already pushing her to the limit, beautiful," said Carth, his knuckles equally as white from gripping the controls. "There are just too many of them to outrun." The _Ebon Hawk_ trembled violently as, once again, it was struck by more blaster bolts.

"Somebody get on those guns!" Carth called over the intercom.

Naomi bounded from her seat and ran towards the turbolasers, stumbling a few times as the vessel rocked. When she reached the turrets Naomi wasn't surprised to see Canderous already with a headset on and warming up the guns.

"It's been far too long since I've manned one of these," said Canderous.

"There'll be time for reminiscing later, Ordo. For now, shoot!" called Naomi over the headset.

By now a dozen Sith fighter were on the _Ebon Hawk's _tail and it was getting impossible to shake them. Both turrets on the _Hawk_ opened fire, decimating half fighters; they were too close to avoid the sudden barrage of lasers. The remaining fighters broke off and came back in groups of three; they were better able to avoid the turbolasers.

"Three fighters, 8 o'clock," said Carth.

As the enemy ships made their attack run, the turbolasers came to life, discharging deadly lances of energy. The small size of the interceptors made them difficult to hit; all but one round missed the intended targets. The one laser managed to tear through the wing of a fighter causing it to careen into its nearest ally. Both ships burst into a short lived ball of fire sending fragments in all directions.

The _Ebon Hawk_ was jolted as the Sith continued their assault, relentlessly pounding the vessel with blaster bolts. With the added convulsing of the ship, Naomi and Canderous were unable to fire accurately. Trouble was obviously heightened as klaxons blazed across the _Hawk_.

"We've lost shields," Carth ground out. "Can't you do something about those fighters?"

Naomi sneered. "We're doing the best we can, but it's hard if you don't fly straight."

"I'd like to see you fly this thing under these conditions, sister."

Naomi ignored his comment and rapidly pulled the trigger of the turbolaser. _I'll take care of those fracking fighters whether or not Onasi can fly this thing straight._ The amount of laser fire was enough to overwhelm one fighter in the next attack group; it was torn to shreds as several lasers breached its hull.

The _Ebon Hawk_ rocked and lit up with small explosions each time a blaster bolt managed to find its target. After the remaining three Sith fighters made a couple passes there were numerous scorch marks on the _Hawk's_ hull. Already the damage could be seen by the crew as the scanners were not functioning properly and they noticed communications were down when the headsets refused to work. And, if things weren't bad enough, as they neared the planet other systems began to fail; soon all systems, but the emergency power were out.

"What the frack is going on?" Naomi demanded as she reentered the cockpit. "The turbolasers shut off."

"We lost power," Carth stated, gritting his teeth. He was using so much his focus in an attempt to steady the controls that even talking was a grave distraction.

The Sith didn't halt their attack while the _Ebon Hawk_ made its descent; the combination of turbulence and blaster bolts striking the vessel made it incredibly difficult to control. As the ship burned through the atmosphere, the enemy fighters broke off as so not to be caught in the wake of entry.

As the attack continued, T3 hurried to restore power to the crippled ship.

Picking up speed now, the _Hawk_ was angled to crash into the planet's vast ocean. Slowly, but surely, the vessel was leveling out; but at the rate of descent it didn't look like it would be enough to lessen the impact upon the surface.

"Come on Carth, I'm too pretty to die," Naomi whined. "If you pull this off I'll never demand anything of you again, I swear."

_Come on, don't let me down,_ Carth mentally pleaded with the ship. Sweat was rolling down his face and stinging his eyes, the urge to wipe it away was powerful, but removing his hands from the controls would doom them. As if his thoughts triggered a reaction from the _Hawk_ power returned to the auxiliary thrusters that aided in stabilizing the ship. Reacting quickly, Carth was able to bring up the nose of the ship a little before the power failed again.

Nearing ground, Carth activated emergency landing gear to deploy. Everyone on board seemed to be holding their breath right as the _Hawk _crashed into the shallow water of a beach. The impact caused strain on the landing gear and a creaking sound could be heard as it gave way slightly.

Naomi opened her eyes and took in the sight of pale sand before her. "You did it!" she exclaimed and threw her arms around Carth.

"So, this mean I'm free of your commands?"

"In your dreams, flyboy," she winked and kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh, and see, we didn't need a cloaking device."

"Yeah, because that _really _went well."


End file.
